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Subject: RE: [motm] No kitchen sinks & run/skip/rest (sequencers)

From: David Bivins <dbivins@...>
Date: 2001-01-30

> -----Original Message-----
> From: elhardt@... [mailto:elhardt@...]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 3:53 AM
> To: motm@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [motm] No kitchen sinks & run/skip/rest (sequencers)
>
>
> dbivins@... writes:
>
> >>The simple analog step sequencers you're talking about have
> knobs and the
> ability to work with voltages in real-time. You are not enslaved to a
> calculator-pad entry method and edits are immediate.<<
>
> Well the CV outputs on a Roland MC-4 or MC-8 get patched into
> a synth to
> control some parameter which will still have a knob that can
> be tweaked in
> realtime.

Of course.

> If you're turning knobs on the analog sequencer in
> real-time,
> you're kind of defeating the point of a sequencer.

???

I can't imagine having so much control over my improvisations if I had to
work the entire modular system surface rather than one or more rows of
sliders or knobs. What if, in real-time, you wish to alter one note or
cutoff value among 16? Have you ever used an arpeggiator and changed one
note in the chord in real-time? I'm sure you have.

But honestly, this is like the conversation I had with a certain modular
manufacturer who couldn't ∗imagine∗ why I would want voltage control over
the individual stages of a contour generator. My response to him was "it's
not ∗your∗ business to imagine what I'll use it for--it's mine!" And I guess
that's my general feeling here. Different tools for different jobs, and you
probably don't care for the jobs I take on.

> Might as
> well use an LFO
> as a gate and just start turning knobs on the synth.

Not really. I do that as well. But it's a pain in the ass if you're actually
trying to send a repeatable series of voltages into one or more modules,
isn't it? And that's the point of any CV sequencer--storing and outputting
sequences of voltages.